My audio interface is dead! I need to rant a bit and hear your advice please.

[Emre Hanli]

Is it no longer under warranty from Audient or the retailer? This is where I'd start if at all possible.

It certainly does not. It is a consumer-grade device with consumer-grade components and build quality. Nothing wrong with that, but it is not a professional-grade device. The good news is that products in the consumer tier have REALLY come a long way in the last decade or more.

Every audio interface by reputable manufacturers at this price point all do the same thing, they all sound roughly the same (minor differences in preamps being the most likely candidate with AD being a distant consideration for differences). The Audient is not some mythical device that offers more than what Focusrite, Presonus, MOTU, etc. are doing at this consumer tier.


Not sure if you're referring to the Audient iD22, but it is not a prosumer tier device.

Unfortunately, when I bought it, the warranty period was 1 year for the iD lineup. Now that the huge mess is seen and talked about by so many people they extended the warranty to three years as a faint attempt at cleaning up the mess a bit. To me, it doesn't mean a thing because I buy a device to use it not wait for it to come back from supposedly free of charge repair trips which are inevitable due to flawed design. I've read some horror stories where people had to wait for weeks if not months to get their device back from repair only to realize something else was wrong with it this time.

Audient iD series are not professional-grade devices, that's right. The reason I refer to iD22 as prosumer is because I've heard this numerous times on gear forums from more gear-oriented people. The reasoning behind it is AFAIK the preamps these guys used in the iD series are the same as their renowned flagship desks, the converters are great and the feature set of iD22 is not matched among its competitors. Plus some marketing mambo jambo mentioning world class Burr Brown converters (which have actually been TI converters since forever now). I'm not gonna list the full functionality here but it's more comprehensive for sure and a quick look at its specs would reveal it.

But yeah, aside from the capabilities of iD22 which are a bit hard to find in the < $500 territory and the beautiful sound, execution of the design and the quality of the components clearly mark it as consumer-grade.

 

[spatters]

Turns out many other iD22s failed after 3-5 years due to some cheap capacitors. Especially the one right next to the heatsink isn't fit to be exposed to that heat. The proper capacitors they could have used on the board wouldn't even add one whole dollar to the cost. I'm not saying this was intentional. Looks more like a faulty design and implementation.

One problem with building everything in China is that Chinese CMs (contract manufacturers) will change your design to save a few pennies if you let them. Not just substituting cheaper parts...I've heard of cases where they actually changed the PCB layout to make it easier for them to manufacture!

(To be clear, I don't know whether this is what happened, or if Audient's designer just failed to specify the proper parts. But it's entirely possible.)

To forestall the inevitable discussion, I don't believe this is because they're intrinsically evil. It's because they're working on incredibly low margins in an incredibly competitive space with thousands of other CMs. Making sure this doesn't happen is just one of the many tradeoffs of overseas manufacturing...as we're finding out now, to our detriment.

 

[Hummergeist]

If you have the money, I'm +1 for RME. Their stuff sounds super clean and is super reliable (in my experience and according to word-of-mouth). I believe they still do tech support and updates for everything they've made over the last 20+ years. Expensive but the money is there in the product, not in marketing or 'free' plug-ins. If you can't or won't pay for that, I'd say stick with Focusrite.

 

[Emre Hanli]

My general rule is that if the cost of repair is more than a certain percentage of the cost to replace, I will replace. I agree with others here - the Focusrite interfaces are among the "best bang for the buck".

Personally, I have an Apogee Element24, which I bought because I previously owned an Apogee Jam and loved the audio quality and overall ease of use. Apogee is more popular with and designed towards the Apple Mac crowd, which includes me. I would highly recommend it to you, but... the Element24 is the smallest (2 x combo inputs - 1/4 inch and XLR) and costs about $600 which is above what you want to spend.

I'm inclined to replace it. I mean, I might keep it for a possible band recording situation and get it fixed if I need a recording setup in the rehearsal place. Lots of cats record live performances with this unit. Just won't be a part of my home rig.

I'm surprised to see the majority of the replies mentioned Focusrite. I'll definitely look into it. Thank you.

I've got the id22 and a couple Steinberg interfaces. I would put them in a similar category as far as quality of sound. If you are using Cubase, I'd suggest a Steinberg interface. Lately, I've been using a UR44, which sounds fine and also works with my iPad. Although, I'm a Mac user when it comes to recording, so I can't comment on Windows integration.

Thank you for chiming in. Valuable info from someone who has both Audient and Steinberg devices. I'm really interested in Steinberg being a Cubase user myself.

How many inputs do you need?

I use the focusrite scarlett 18i8.

My guitar player uses a presonus mix board with 20 inputs. Its pretty dope, but my focusrite has 4 inputs on front, four on back. More than I need and $300.

Two inputs is good enough for my home system. I actually know someone who recorded and mixed two amazing tracks on 18i8. Check out Benji SC on Spotify. Then he ironically replaced it with an iD22 later on. Dude still kicks major butt no matter what.

been in your shoes. a bit of advice: check the audio interface with a different computer.

years ago I thought my sound interface was dead or broken. in fact the interface was okay, it's the computer that was broken. strangely enough it worked with other two interfaces, but stopped with this one. that computer suddenly died of mainboard failure just a few months after and no tech was able to repair it. the interface that stopped working with that computer was totally fine on other computers. so, double-check if it's really the interface

That sounds horrible! I hope that's not the case with me here. Although I'm pretty sure it's the device because this exact failure happened so many times to fellow iD22 users.

Replace it. Get the best Focusrite unit you can for your what you want to spend (I'm still rockin the 1st gen 18i20 and going strong!) and it'll more than get the job done for you.

I guess so. Every reply here suggests that I won't miss the Audient.

Unfortunately, as soon as I read the thread title I said "my money's on Audient!" There are several threads ranting about their recent QC issues over on Gearspace.

I'm sorry for your misfortune.

Depending on your needs, I'd recommend checking out the Motu M4, or even the M2 if you never intend to use the M4's extra two line inputs. Freaking fantastic converters for the money and the preamps are comparable in quality to Audient's, though they have a slightly different flavor. I own a UA Apollo 16 that costs over 10x as much as the Motu and I'm planning to use the Motu from now on (purely for convenience) unless I'm tracking >4 tracks simultaneously, ie unless I'm recording drums.

Right? So sad, isn't it? You must have seen that legendary iD22 issues thread on gearspace! They failed big time with this one and won't even acknowledge it. Still trying to act cool like nothing is wrong with iD22. Although I don't know what I would have done if I were in their shoes. Must be difficult for them too.

I'll look into Motu too. Thank you. Guess it'll come to which company has the best Windows driver support in the end.

 

[Dirk Diggler]

RME used if you can find one. Babyface pro is a very nicely done low latency interface.
And I would trust a used one since they are indeed built like tanks.

Also since you have firewire you can grab all kinds of other used interfaces since many folks are getting away from firewire.

 

[Emre Hanli]

One problem with building everything in China is that Chinese CMs (contract manufacturers) will change your design to save a few pennies if you let them. Not just substituting cheaper parts...I've heard of cases where they actually changed the PCB layout to make it easier for them to manufacture!

(To be clear, I don't know whether this is what happened, or if Audient's designer just failed to specify the proper parts. But it's entirely possible.)

To forestall the inevitable discussion, I don't believe this is because they're intrinsically evil. It's because they're working on incredibly low margins in an incredibly competitive space with thousands of other CMs. Making sure this doesn't happen is just one of the many tradeoffs of overseas manufacturing...as we're finding out now, to our detriment.

You know what, this makes so much sense! The whole thing makes sense with this scenario. So many people were racking their brains to make sense of such a simple mistake as placing that p.o.s. cap right next to the heatsink. I for one didn't want to believe the actual designer could have signed the project off that way. Tough market for sure.

If you have the money, I'm +1 for RME. Their stuff sounds super clean and is super reliable (in my experience and according to word-of-mouth). I believe they still do tech support and updates for everything they've made over the last 20+ years. Expensive but the money is there in the product, not in marketing or 'free' plug-ins. If you can't or won't pay for that, I'd say stick with Focusrite.

RME is legendary in that respect. Old school German approach. I can go that high and get their cheapest USB interface for $1000. But then it might be spending 220% more to get 0.2% more in my case. I should be certain that my ears are good enough to discern the difference between the sound quality of RME and Steinberg or Focusrite. I'll try to do an A/B test in person and see if my ears deserve the budget allocation.

 

[MuttThud]

Hello everyone!

In 2017 I retired my old studio system and switched to a powerful Win10 laptop, coupled it with an Audient iD22 and upgraded to Cubase 9. I was skeptical about having an online system (where you HAVE to be online to keep things running) and the software evolving into a subscription model from a one time purchase and set up model. But it worked out for me. Even though Windows does everything in its power to butcher things up, I had been lucky enough to keep my system stable until about 10 days ago when my iD22 gave in.

Now I can see a few ways to get my studio up and running again:

1- Get the iD22 fixed:

I could dish out some cash to bring it back to life if I knew it would last another 4 years without issues. But I don't know anyone who could treat the unit right and not just put a band aid on it or try to swap the whole board instead of the few faulty caps. All these years I thought this unit was a tank, a gem and it'd never fail like this. The peace of mind that comes with such faith is priceless. Unfortunately, I don't see it possible with Audient anymore.

2- Replace the iD22 with another unit:

I don't have experience with the other brands that serve the sub $500 audio interface market but the general consensus seems to be that Audient gets you real pro quality audio (converters/DI etc.) and some serious functionality that's non-existent in it's price league. So another unit looks like a sure downgrade in terms of sound quality and functionality.

***Now this is where it gets tricky***

I'm just not so sure if I could hear the difference in practical situations and I'm pretty sure I don't need all the amazing functionality this unit provides. I don't consider myself an audiophile and all I did for 4 years on this system was record one track at a time and do the rest in the box. Not like I'm recording a live band or anything. Only my bass/electric guitar parts and vocals go through the audio interface and the rest happens in the box (tracks recorded elsewhere and VST instruments). That makes me suspect a big chunk of the sound of a typical tune I print has nothing to do with the converters/DIs of the interface I'm using.

<rant>Furthermore, I don't even think I'll be spending as much let alone going over $500 this time. Just the thought of it makes me sick. Some people think if a prosumer grade unit (read: doesn't suck big time but ain't golden either) has served you about 4-5 years, you've got your moneys worth. I'm just shocked that this has become the norm and it's OK for a manufacturer to drastically shorten a prosumer units life expectancy by putting cheaper capacitors on the board to save less than 5 cents per unit. Add to that the lack of proper driver support which is bound to happen sooner or later if you don't go RME level. Without proper drivers, a piece of hardware is a door stopper no matter how amazing it is.</rant>

So I started entertaining the idea of getting a cheaper unit with preamps and converters that wouldn't satisfy audio pros with golden ears because obviously I'm not one of them. My only concern is even though I'm no audiophile, I'd really like to do a blind test before committing to another interface which *might* not sound as good. Music is not my livelihood but I don't like the idea of cutting corners if means less than satisfactory results.

So here I am looking at Steinberg UR22C, Presonus Studio 68c and the likes ($200-300) because that's what a lot of super talented and creative people use to put out some fantastic music on a budget. A better recording setup obviously doesn't make one a better artist.
I'm also considering a super irrational move of breaking the bank and getting a RME whatever model because I know it won't come with cheap minded manufacturer shenanigans and will easily last a decade (read: peace of mind). The cheapest (USB) RME is the Babyface Pro FS at $1000 AFAIK.

The guts of my first home studio setup consisted of a dedicated offline WinXP PC and a Tascam interface and I ran Cubase on that system for about 9 years (2008-2017) without having to update or upgrade one single thing. And honestly I was much more productive back then. I really really miss those offline days where a system would keep on doing its thing regardless of the new tech and trends thrown at us at the speed of light.

Thanks for reading. Now, let the collective wisdom of TalkBass prevail!

Peace,
Emre

Another +1 for Focusrite. I have the Scarlett Solo 3rd gen (the latest version with USB-C) and it's a great piece of kit. Solid, very clean sound, no fuss to set up (native plug and play on Mac, pretty good drivers for PC apparently), and I get very low latency. It's also much cheaper than the top end of your budget. That would be my number 1 recommendation.

RME is great and lasts a long time, as does Apogee kit. If you're looking at that kind of money then I'd also recommend checking out a UAD Arrow… great interface which I use with my studio iMac Pro. The UAD plug-ins are pricy but are as close to the real hardware as you can get in software IME so (mostly) worth it.

Another left field thought… I recently bought a HX Stomp XL to use as a practice and jamming set up (once I'm finally able to get in a room with other musicians….). On a whim I decided to try the Stomp as a USB audio interface (it's not what I bought it for, but it has a built in USB interface so I thought why not), and I was surprised how good it was. Low latency (on my MacBook Pro I got down to 128 samples no problem), clean output, and it was great being able to track my bass both clean and with amp sim and effects. The tracks I recorded with it sounded fine and certainly not worse than anything I've recorded through UAD or the Focusrite.

Bottom line is many of the latest interface options will do the job, certainly for bass. If you're recording breathy and airy female vocals for an exposed track with minimal accompaniment then, yeah, the choice of interface will matter a lot more (as will the choice of mic, mic placement, room acoustic treatment etc etc). But for less demanding tasks, there aren't many truly bad choices out there IMO.

 

[Hummergeist]

You know what, this makes so much sense! The whole thing makes sense with this scenario. So many people were racking their brains to make sense of such a simple mistake as placing that p.o.s. cap right next to the heatsink. I for one didn't want to believe the actual designer could have signed the project off that way. Tough market for sure.



RME is legendary in that respect. Old school German approach. I can go that high and get their cheapest USB interface for $1000. But then it might be spending 220% more to get 0.2% more in my case. I should be certain that my ears are good enough to discern the difference between the sound quality of RME and Steinberg or Focusrite. I'll try to do an A/B test in person and see if my ears deserve the budget allocation.

When I first tried an RME with my usual monitors at home and was shocked at the difference - it was almost like a void, because it was so uncoloured and unglamourised. I'd be interested to hear your opinion after trying them.

 

[silky smoove]

The reasoning behind it is AFAIK the preamps these guys used in the iD series are the same as their renowned flagship desks, the converters are great and the feature set of iD22 is not matched among its competitors. Plus some marketing mambo jambo mentioning world class Burr Brown converters (which have actually been TI converters since forever now). I'm not gonna list the full functionality here but it's more comprehensive for sure and a quick look at its specs would reveal it.

Those preamps are nothing special. Nothing wrong with them, but they're transofmerless and basically just a "wire with gain" approach that's no different from Focusrite, Presonus, MOTU, etc. The converters being Burr Brown are the same as what many others use and are out-spec'd by what MOTU is using these days. As for functionality I'm not seeing anything prosumer either. The only thing it has going for it over some of its competitors is a send and return for patching in hardware as part of the i/o path. Admittedly not many manufacturers are doing this, but it's been included in quite a few interfaces over the years. It's an odd inclusion at this price point as most folks that want to spend this little on an interface aren't likely trying to patch into an LA2A or a Distressor, for example. I'm still putting this in the consumer tier of products. There's absolutely nothing wrong with that to be clear. Consumer grade audio interfaces are fantastic these days. Far better than professional grade products of the past in some cases. Get yours repaired, replace it with another, or grab another from any of Audient's competitors at a variety of price points and you'll be in good shape. Make sure the unit you pick is compatible with your OS and then get back to focusing on making music.

 

[dkelley]

Is it really dead? Did you give it port to port CPR??

 

[Emre Hanli]

Another +1 for Focusrite. I have the Scarlett Solo 3rd gen (the latest version with USB-C) and it's a great piece of kit. Solid, very clean sound, no fuss to set up (native plug and play on Mac, pretty good drivers for PC apparently), and I get very low latency. It's also much cheaper than the top end of your budget. That would be my number 1 recommendation.

RME is great and lasts a long time, as does Apogee kit. If you're looking at that kind of money then I'd also recommend checking out a UAD Arrow… great interface which I use with my studio iMac Pro. The UAD plug-ins are pricy but are as close to the real hardware as you can get in software IME so (mostly) worth it.

Another left field thought… I recently bought a HX Stomp XL to use as a practice and jamming set up (once I'm finally able to get in a room with other musicians….). On a whim I decided to try the Stomp as a USB audio interface (it's not what I bought it for, but it has a built in USB interface so I thought why not), and I was surprised how good it was. Low latency (on my MacBook Pro I got down to 128 samples no problem), clean output, and it was great being able to track my bass both clean and with amp sim and effects. The tracks I recorded with it sounded fine and certainly not worse than anything I've recorded through UAD or the Focusrite.

Bottom line is many of the latest interface options will do the job, certainly for bass. If you're recording breathy and airy female vocals for an exposed track with minimal accompaniment then, yeah, the choice of interface will matter a lot more (as will the choice of mic, mic placement, room acoustic treatment etc etc). But for less demanding tasks, there aren't many truly bad choices out there IMO.

Your post is like a wisdom explosion... Thank you. I only record my own vox aside from bass and sometimes electric guitar. I understand that so many other factors play a larger role in capturing a good vocal track than the interface. Though my voice is not my forte and I'm content with the quality of the vocal tracks I've recorded so far.

When I first tried an RME with my usual monitors at home and was shocked at the difference - it was almost like a void, because it was so uncoloured and unglamourised. I'd be interested to hear your opinion after trying them.

It'll be an exciting attempt to gauge my own hearing too! Will let you know.

Those preamps are nothing special. Nothing wrong with them, but they're transofmerless and basically just a "wire with gain" approach that's no different from Focusrite, Presonus, MOTU, etc. The converters being Burr Brown are the same as what many others use and are out-spec'd by what MOTU is using these days. As for functionality I'm not seeing anything prosumer either. The only thing it has going for it over some of its competitors is a send and return for patching in hardware as part of the i/o path. Admittedly not many manufacturers are doing this, but it's been included in quite a few interfaces over the years. It's an odd inclusion at this price point as most folks that want to spend this little on an interface aren't likely trying to patch into an LA2A or a Distressor, for example. I'm still putting this in the consumer tier of products. There's absolutely nothing wrong with that to be clear. Consumer grade audio interfaces are fantastic these days. Far better than professional grade products of the past in some cases. Get yours repaired, replace it with another, or grab another from any of Audient's competitors at a variety of price points and you'll be in good shape. Make sure the unit you pick is compatible with your OS and then get back to focusing on making music.

Gotcha! Shows you how manipulative can marketing talk be... Thank you. I'm truly looking forward to going back to making music.

Is it really dead? Did you give it port to port CPR??

I just shot a video and called 911!

Check it out:

 

[tbz]

I'm surprised to see the majority of the replies mentioned Focusrite. I'll definitely look into it. Thank you.

Why is that surprising? You'd get similar feedback by watching a few YouTube videos on the subject or googling.

 

[rashrader]

I just gave up on my antique interface and bought a shiny new Black Lion Revolution 2x2.

[This invalid link has been removed]

I have no need for more than 2 ins/outs ( + headphone out ) so it's great for me.

I use it with bass, and the pitch conversion seems accurate even in the low end

$399 retail, not cheap but high quality. Metal case, knobs that feel as if they are actually attached to something.

A nice looking bundle of stuff for Windows comes with it, but I don't use Windows so I can't comment on that part.

I just picked one of these up as well and it sounds fantastic. I actually like it so much that I use it as my headphone practice amp. It also comes with great plugins.... About $400 worth. Highly recommended.

 

[logdrum]

TASCAMs are well built - I have still kicking around the old US-144 MkII. I am a UAD user as well but recently switched to Antelope Audio . The Zen Synergy Go is 499. Great preamps

 

[3bc]

Audient does have a strong reputation in that price bracket. I guess I would look at the Apogee duet in that price bracket, it should be a strong performer from a sound quality perspective. I'm not a windows user (I like all my hardware/software to work without taking up a part time job troubleshooting compatibility issues...) so I can't comment on how good the PC drivers are.

Focusrite has a strong reputation as does MOTU in that enthusiast bracket. The differences in sound quality between a focusrite and audient shouldn't be worlds different. Between the room you're in, the mic you're using, the performance, the song, the acoustics of the room you're mixing in, etc. those convertors will very likely be the least likely to be holding you back.

Jagged little pill was recorded on ADAT's and the digital convertors in 1995 even at an elite level would certainly be worse than a $300 focusrite interface. Though i suspect it would be a downgrade which I understand is a bummer.

I'd stay away from steinberg branded products personally, but that's just me.

 

[mmon77]

I have a Scarlett 2i4 2nd gen, and it has been flawless since I purchased it a few years ago. The only issues I've ever had have been with Windows 10 deciding to frag my PC during updates, and that is certainly no fault of the interface.

I think unless you really need some feature of the pro/prosumer level units, the consumer ones are all very solid now.

 

[DirtDog]

If you don't need the send/return IO like the Audient ID22 has, the SSL2+ is a good option with a similar form factor and set of controls.

 

[Windreaper]

Another +1 RME here, been using a first-gen Multiface for over a decade. Rock-solid drivers and it's still supported despite being out of production for years. Will replace with another RME product if it ever fails.

 

[ToneMonkey]

Is it no longer under warranty from Audient or the retailer? This is where I'd start if at all possible.


It certainly does not. It is a consumer-grade device with consumer-grade components and build quality. Nothing wrong with that, but it is not a professional-grade device. The good news is that products in the consumer tier have REALLY come a long way in the last decade or more.


Every audio interface by reputable manufacturers at this price point all do the same thing, they all sound roughly the same (minor differences in preamps being the most likely candidate with AD being a distant consideration for differences). The Audient is not some mythical device that offers more than what Focusrite, Presonus, MOTU, etc. are doing at this consumer tier.


Not sure if you're referring to the Audient iD22, but it is not a prosumer tier device.


Either of those units would serve you well given your stated needs which are quite modest.


RME makes excellent products, which unlike the iD22 are actually in the prosumer tier of devices. This would be a marked step up from your Audient unit.


What do you mean by pitch conversion? Are you just referring to the AD stage?

+1 on RME. Not fussy. Just rock solid good sounding interfaces.

 

[dbsfgyd1]

Hello everyone!

In 2017 I retired my old studio system and switched to a powerful Win10 laptop, coupled it with an Audient iD22 and upgraded to Cubase 9. I was skeptical about having an online system (where you HAVE to be online to keep things running) and the software evolving into a subscription model from a one time purchase and set up model. But it worked out for me. Even though Windows does everything in its power to butcher things up, I had been lucky enough to keep my system stable until about 10 days ago when my iD22 gave in.

Now I can see a few ways to get my studio up and running again:

1- Get the iD22 fixed:

I could dish out some cash to bring it back to life if I knew it would last another 4 years without issues. But I don't know anyone who could treat the unit right and not just put a band aid on it or try to swap the whole board instead of the few faulty caps. All these years I thought this unit was a tank, a gem and it'd never fail like this. The peace of mind that comes with such faith is priceless. Unfortunately, I don't see it possible with Audient anymore.

2- Replace the iD22 with another unit:

I don't have experience with the other brands that serve the sub $500 audio interface market but the general consensus seems to be that Audient gets you real pro quality audio (converters/DI etc.) and some serious functionality that's non-existent in it's price league. So another unit looks like a sure downgrade in terms of sound quality and functionality.

***Now this is where it gets tricky***

I'm just not so sure if I could hear the difference in practical situations and I'm pretty sure I don't need all the amazing functionality this unit provides. I don't consider myself an audiophile and all I did for 4 years on this system was record one track at a time and do the rest in the box. Not like I'm recording a live band or anything. Only my bass/electric guitar parts and vocals go through the audio interface and the rest happens in the box (tracks recorded elsewhere and VST instruments). That makes me suspect a big chunk of the sound of a typical tune I print has nothing to do with the converters/DIs of the interface I'm using.

<rant>Furthermore, I don't even think I'll be spending as much let alone going over $500 this time. Just the thought of it makes me sick. Some people think if a prosumer grade unit (read: doesn't suck big time but ain't golden either) has served you about 4-5 years, you've got your moneys worth. I'm just shocked that this has become the norm and it's OK for a manufacturer to drastically shorten a prosumer units life expectancy by putting cheaper capacitors on the board to save less than 5 cents per unit. Add to that the lack of proper driver support which is bound to happen sooner or later if you don't go RME level. Without proper drivers, a piece of hardware is a door stopper no matter how amazing it is.</rant>

So I started entertaining the idea of getting a cheaper unit with preamps and converters that wouldn't satisfy audio pros with golden ears because obviously I'm not one of them. My only concern is even though I'm no audiophile, I'd really like to do a blind test before committing to another interface which *might* not sound as good. Music is not my livelihood but I don't like the idea of cutting corners if means less than satisfactory results.

So here I am looking at Steinberg UR22C, Presonus Studio 68c and the likes ($200-300) because that's what a lot of super talented and creative people use to put out some fantastic music on a budget. A better recording setup obviously doesn't make one a better artist.
I'm also considering a super irrational move of breaking the bank and getting a RME whatever model because I know it won't come with cheap minded manufacturer shenanigans and will easily last a decade (read: peace of mind). The cheapest (USB) RME is the Babyface Pro FS at $1000 AFAIK.

The guts of my first home studio setup consisted of a dedicated offline WinXP PC and a Tascam interface and I ran Cubase on that system for about 9 years (2008-2017) without having to update or upgrade one single thing. And honestly I was much more productive back then. I really really miss those offline days where a system would keep on doing its thing regardless of the new tech and trends thrown at us at the speed of light.

Thanks for reading. Now, let the collective wisdom of TalkBass prevail!

Peace,
Emre

For what it's worth, I use a Steinberg UR12 into a windows notebook running Cubasis as a remote recording station. It works great.

Even though they say it's comparable with IPads, we couldn't get Cubasis to accept an input musical instrument signal out of the UR12.